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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced the successful formation of Israel’s 33rd government in the 19th Knesset. The following table shows the results of the elections, with a comparison to the results of the previous elections in 2009:

Jerusalem, Jan. 22 – The broad contours of Israel’s January 22 election were in line with months of polling predictions, even as the specifics of the race were shaken by the surprising late surge of the centrist party Yesh Atid. As polls projected, the voting was divided roughly evenly between a center-right bloc anchored by a dominant Likud-Beitenu slate and a fractured center-left. Incumbent Likud Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will almost certainly be asked to form Israel’s next coalition government, and the third place Labor party is likely to lead the opposition.

The surprise of the evening was the success of the new, centrist Yesh Atid party, which found itself with enough votes to become Israel’s second-largest party. Only recently created by former journalist Yair Lapid, Yesh Atid’s success has triggered a wave of interest in the group and its positions.

Founded and led by Israeli TV personality Yair Lapid, Yesh Atid embodies a kind of post-ideological pragmatism. It couples an emphasis on tough national security with an explicit endorsement of a two-state solution. It promotes free market policies while insisting on the need to bolster the middle class. And though it is avowedly secular, the Yesh Atid agenda is expressed in terms of the need to integrate Israel’s ultra-orthodox and Arab minorities into the state's civil and military institutions.

The Israel Project has compiled a series of multimedia resources documenting Yesh Atid’s platform and the party’s rise. Two videos from a recent TIP election debate, held days before voting commenced, show top Yesh Atid foreign policy official Yaakov Peri outlining the party’s foreign policy agenda in general and specifically regarding the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Below the videos is a gallery showing the scene at the Yesh Atid party on the night of the elections, as news of the party’s electoral successes began to trickle in.

Tel Aviv, January 22 – Israeli voters flocked to the polls in near-record numbers on Tuesday to elect the country’s 19th Knesset, registering turnout levels not seen since the country’s hotly contested 1999 election. By 6 p.m., 3.1 million Israelis, or 55.5 percent of the electorate, had cast their ballot.

The voting comes after weeks of pundit predictions, both in Israel and abroad, predicting an apathetic Israeli electorate.

Should the numbers hold up, analysts will likely have to reexamine critical assumptions about the ideology and enthusiasm of Israeli voters. Youth voting has in particular stymied efforts to predict turnout and voting. Israeli media outlets prominently featured first-time voters saying that they had opted to vote for newer parties as alternatives to Israel’s traditional center-right and center-left parties, the Likud and Labor parties respectively.

Israeli analysts have largely assumed that a larger turnout favors Israel’s center-left bloc against the center-right bloc that is largely expected to emerge with a majority. Huge majorities of Israelis have consistently favored compromises with the Palestinians in the pursuit of a two-state solution, and Israeli parties with platforms deemphasizing a peace deal would be advantaged by lower-turnout, niche-voter electoral scenarios.

There are 32 party lists competing in the election, with larger parties focusing on broad political and social issues and various smaller parties proposing specific changes to the electoral system, greater separation of religion and state, and the legalization of cannabis.

Tel Aviv, January 22 – Israel's three major news television stations tonight released exit poll results projecting that the country's 19th Knesset will be dominated by parties clustering around the Israeli political center. The announcements come after months during which analysts predicted Israelis were preparing to vote into power the most right-wing government in the country's history.

In contrast, it appears that both the next Israeli government and the Israeli opposition will be led by parties committed to securing a two-state resolution to Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

As polls had predicted since the campaign began three months ago, the final vote was closely divided between a center-right bloc anchored by incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud-Beitenu party and a fractured Israeli center-left. The Likud-Beitenu list is expected to receive just over 30 seats, and Netanyahu will almost certainly be asked by Israel's President Shimon Peres to form the next coalition government. Electoral calculations indicate that he will be able to form a slim majority in Israel's 120-seat Knesset.

The surprise of the evening was the strength of Israel's centrist Yesh Atid party, founded and led by TV personality Yair Lapid. If exit polling holds, the party will have received enough votes to secure its place as Israel's second-largest party. Yesh Atid ran on a platform of secularism, governmental reform, and free market-oriented economic policies. Demographically, it draws from Israel's moderate middle class.

There is minimal distance between Likud-Beitenu and Yesh Atid on critical issues. Both parties share a foreign policy emphasizing the need for a two-state resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, tempered with skepticism regarding Palestinian willingness to make and abide by negotiated agreements. Domestically, both parties are committed to pursuing liberal economic policies.

The next Israeli opposition will likely almost certainly be led by the center-left Labor party, which seems set to take its place as Israel's third most powerful party. Labor leader Shelly Yachimovich has taken her party to the left economically, but Labor shares with Likud-Beitenu and Yesh Atid -- and with huge swaths of the Israeli public -- both a commitment to a two-state solution and a skepticism regarding Palestinian policies.

Jerusalem, Jan 22 – Israel’s 20-percent Arab minority has been voting today in national elections. Men and women in Arab and mixed Jewish-Arab towns and villages began casting their votes when polling stations opened at 7am.

Four Arab parties are running in the general election, along with one joint Arab-Jewish party (Hadash). Additionally, all the major parties have Arab and/or Druze candidates on their slates – including those on the political right.

Voter turnout among Israeli-Arabs is traditionally lower than that among the Jewish population – although the Jewish vote is also in decline. Voter turnout is generally low in the Arab world. In Kuwait, voter turnout stood at 40.3 percent in the December 2012 elections there. Turnout in Jordan has averaged 51.8 percent since 1949.

The Israeli-Arab parties have been using their share of the government-sponsored TV and radio ad time to urge the 1.6 million strong Arab sector to vote.

Among them is the Daam workers’ party, headed by Asma Aghbarieh-Zahalka. She presents herself as a representative of all Israelis. “I have a vision and it wasn’t clear to people—to talk about Jews and Arabs, about socialism, social justice. They thought I was dreaming, that all Arabs hate Jews and all Jews hate Arabs. And I know that’s not true,” she said in a recent interview.

This idea of Arabs and Jews working together in the political arena and beyond is also picked up by Nadia Hilou, a former MP with the Labor party who is running once again on the Labor ticket today

She has travelled the length and breadth of the country encouraging Arabs to vote, arguing that choosing Labor is the only way to affect change.

“If every one of us would vote it will help to switch the current government and restore hope for a better common future for all of us: between Arabs and Jews, and for the Arab community and the citizens at large,” she said.

The broad contours of Israel’s January 22 election were in line with months of polling predictions, even as the specifics of the race were shaken by the surprising late surge of the centrist party Yesh Atid. As polls projected, the voting was divided roughly evenly between a center-right bloc anchored by a dominant Likud-Beitenu slate and a fractured center-left. Incumbent Likud Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will almost certainly be asked to form Israel’s next coalition government, and the third place Labor party is likely to lead the opposition.

The surprise of the evening was the success of the new, centrist Yesh Atid party, which found itself with enough votes to become Israel’s second-largest party. Only recently created by former journalist Yair Lapid, Yesh Atid’s success has triggered a wave of interest in the group and its positions.

Founded and led by Israeli TV personality Yair Lapid, Yesh Atid embodies a kind of post-ideological pragmatism. It couples an emphasis on tough national security with an explicit endorsement of a two-state solution. It promotes free market policies while insisting on the need to bolster the middle class. And though it is avowedly secular, the Yesh Atid agenda is expressed in terms of the need to integrate Israel’s ultra-orthodox and Arab minorities into the state's civil and military institutions.

The Israel Project has compiled a series of multimedia resources documenting Yesh Atid’s platform and the party’s rise. Two videos from a recent TIP election debate, held days before voting commenced, show top Yesh Atid foreign policy official Yaakov Peri outlining the party’s foreign policy agenda in general and specifically regarding the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Below the videos is a gallery showing the scene at the Yesh Atid party on the night of the elections, as news of the party’s electoral successes began to trickle in.

Israel's three major news television stations tonight released exit poll results projecting that the country's 19th Knesset will be dominated by parties clustering around the Israeli political center. The announcements come after months during which analysts predicted Israelis were preparing to vote into power the most right-wing government in the country's history.

In contrast, it appears that both the next Israeli government and the Israeli opposition will be led by parties committed to securing a two-state resolution to Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

As polls had predicted since the campaign began three months ago, the final vote was closely divided between a center-right bloc anchored by incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud-Beitenu party and a fractured Israeli center-left. The Likud-Beitenu list is expected to receive just over 30 seats, and Netanyahu will almost certainly be asked by Israel's President Shimon Peres to form the next coalition government. Electoral calculations indicate that he will be able to form a slim majority in Israel's 120-seat Knesset.

The surprise of the evening was the strength of Israel's centrist Yesh Atid party, founded and led by TV personality Yair Lapid. If exit polling holds, the party will have received enough votes to secure its place as Israel's second-largest party. Yesh Atid ran on a platform of secularism, governmental reform, and free market-oriented economic policies. Demographically, it draws from Israel's moderate middle class.

There is minimal distance between Likud-Beitenu and Yesh Atid on critical issues. Both parties share a foreign policy emphasizing the need for a two-state resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, tempered with skepticism regarding Palestinian willingness to make and abide by negotiated agreements. Domestically, both parties are committed to pursuing liberal economic policies.

The next Israeli opposition will likely almost certainly be led by the center-left Labor party, which seems set to take its place as Israel's third most powerful party. Labor leader Shelly Yachimovich has taken her party to the left economically, but Labor shares with Likud-Beitenu and Yesh Atid -- and with huge swaths of the Israeli public -- both a commitment to a two-state solution and a skepticism regarding Palestinian policies.

With two weeks left until Israelis go to the polls, The Israel Project (TIP), in conjunction with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI), hosted a foreign policy debate on January 8th with representatives from major political parties. Some 300 members of the foreign media, diplomatic community and HUJI student body braved stormy weather conditions to pack the Truman Hall for the first English-language U.S. presidential-style election debate, during which time candidates presented their parties’ positions on foreign policy initiatives, including the threat of a nuclear Iran, the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, the U.S.-Israel relationship and Israel's role in a changing Middle East. Moderated by TIP’s Israel Director Marcus Sheff, the four senior candidates representing the parties making the headlines were: Yitzhak Herzog (Labor); Naftali Bennett (Habayit Hayehudi – Jewish Home); Tzachi Hanegbi (Likud-Beiteinu) and Yaakov Peri (Yesh Atid). Only Amram Mitzna (Hatnua) was a casualty of the weather.

With two weeks left until Israelis go to the polls, The Israel Project (TIP), in conjunction with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI), hosted a foreign policy debate on January 8th with representatives from major political parties. Some 300 members of the foreign media, diplomatic community and HUJI student body braved stormy weather conditions to pack the Truman Hall for the first English-language U.S. presidential-style election debate, during which time candidates presented their parties’ positions on foreign policy initiatives, including the threat of a nuclear Iran, the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, the U.S.-Israel relationship and Israel's role in a changing Middle East. Moderated by TIP’s Israel Director Marcus Sheff, the four senior candidates representing the parties making the headlines were: Yitzhak Herzog (Labor); Naftali Bennett (Habayit Hayehudi – Jewish Home); Tzachi Hanegbi (Likud-Beiteinu) and Yaakov Peri (Yesh Atid). Only Amram Mitzna (Hatnua) was a casualty of the weather.